Scotland

[Daydream believer]

I agree the rest of the UK funds the nice life for the bankers in London with their bonuses. They actually spend more per head on Londoners than the spend on any other area of the UK, it is not the Celtic fringe that are the scroungers but those who live and work in the south east

Actually it is those in the southeast that do the work & create the wealth the rest of the country benefit from!!!
It is well known that if you move an organisation or factory further north (or to wales) output drops
It is in the south where workers will commute hours to get to work & actually do something when they get there
Not so common in the north. I know of one major London player moved its offices to Scotland to benefit from grants. Now the grants have run out the cock ups & lack of productivity are costing money & things are gradually being transferred south again.
A business friend of mine established a factory facility in wales. The effort needed to get staff motivated & the management input needed just meant it had to be shut a few years later
That being said I do not hold any grudge against citizens because they live in a certain part of the UK ( apart from the Welsh that is !!!!)
It would be a great pity if Scotland broke away. I suggest they need to realise that north sea oil will not last for ever
I do not suppose the Haddock stocks will rise that much either!!!
Apart from that I do not believe Scotland has any major "resources" ,apart from its tourist industry. So they had better learn how to produce something & soon

 

[rotrax]

I did say more per head not more in general so your point about population size is pretty pointless but one gets used to such comments, I have had to put up with that sort of thing for most of my life. What gets my goat is the perpetual suggestion that Scots get more money than any one else when the greediest part of the UK actually gets more per person than any where else in the whole UK, despite much of England being in desperate need of development. They are being conned into believing it is the nasty greedy Scots who get all the money when the reality is it is the rich south east that gets the money.

As for individual Scots cities not making the best use of the cash, one remembers the the exhortation to those who live in glass houses not to throw stones

OK, I'll be simplistic.

You have two factories that are producing goods, one in the North, one in the South.

The Northern one makes a 5% net profit.

The Southern one makes a 25% net profit, despite being only a little larger in size and with a correspondingly slightly larger workforce.

Which one do you choose to invest further money in.

I'll leave the answer to you.

 

[awol]

Actually it is those in the southeast that do the work & create the wealth the rest of the country benefit from!!!
It is well known that if you move an organisation or factory further north (or to wales) output drops
It is in the south where workers will commute hours to get to work & actually do something when they get there
Not so common in the north. I know of one major London player moved its offices to Scotland to benefit from grants. Now the grants have run out the cock ups & lack of productivity are costing money & things are gradually being transferred south again.
A business friend of mine established a factory facility in wales. The effort needed to get staff motivated & the management input needed just meant it had to be shut a few years later
That being said I do not hold any grudge against citizens because they live in a certain part of the UK ( apart from the Welsh that is !!!!)
It would be a great pity if Scotland broke away. I suggest they need to realise that north sea oil will not last for ever
I do not suppose the Haddock stocks will rise that much either!!!
Apart from that I do not believe Scotland has any major "resources" ,apart from its tourist industry. So they had better learn how to produce something & soon

What a relief it will be to you when the northern ingrates foolishly vote to leave you to your wealth. A city state of London without the rest of the UK must be your ideal. Pity the sailing would be crap!

 

[rotrax]

I don't see why this needs to be the case please enlighten me.
There must be huge economies of scale to be made with such a high population density, why do Londoners need more money per head than anywhere else?

See post 142.

 

[gordmac]

Post 142 doesn't answer the question though.

 

[NorthRising]

Actually it is those in the southeast that do the work & create the wealth the rest of the country benefit from!!!
It is well known that if you move an organisation or factory further north (or to wales) output drops
It is in the south where workers will commute hours to get to work & actually do something when they get there
Not so common in the north. I know of one major London player moved its offices to Scotland to benefit from grants. Now the grants have run out the cock ups & lack of productivity are costing money & things are gradually being transferred south again.
A business friend of mine established a factory facility in wales. The effort needed to get staff motivated & the management input needed just meant it had to be shut a few years later
That being said I do not hold any grudge against citizens because they live in a certain part of the UK ( apart from the Welsh that is !!!!)
It would be a great pity if Scotland broke away. I suggest they need to realise that north sea oil will not last for ever
I do not suppose the Haddock stocks will rise that much either!!!
Apart from that I do not believe Scotland has any major "resources" ,apart from its tourist industry. So they had better learn how to produce something & soon

Blowing away the myth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gy7f8vP2QY

 

[NormanS]

The mere fact that the rUK government is so desperate to hold on to Scotland, tells me that Scotland is seen of being of huge benefit to the rUK.
I don't know if it's the sources of energy, both actual and potential, or the lower density of population, or the amount and availability of clean drinking water etc etc. If Scotland was really such a drain on the rUK economy as claimed, don't you think Westminster would be actively promoting the "Yes" vote?

To get back to the OP's original question, sailing to Scotland shouldn't present him with any more difficulties than sailing to, for instance, Ireland.

 

[awol]

T

To get back to the OP's original question, sailing to Scotland shouldn't present him with any more difficulties than sailing to, for instance, Ireland.

The strange but oft quoted "UK and European waters from Brest to Elbe" doesn't include Isle of Man or Eire and presumably will exclude Scotland after independence. Another reason to read the policy.

 

[Dave-Shafa]

scotland today ..................................
......................................

 

[afterpegassus]

scotland today ..................................
......................................

For the sake of argument, let's call this village Muir of Ord. The video was principally of the main street which is a fine example of dereliction caused, not by Highland Council, but by the commercial reality of having Inverness half a dozen miles away and drawing all the commerce into it. Examples of this can be found both north and south.
I don't think the push for independence caused the potholes in the road or the modifications of the road signs and examples of both, again can be found either side the border.

 

[NormanS]

For the sake of argument, let's call this village Muir of Ord. The video was principally of the main street which is a fine example of dereliction caused, not by Highland Council, but by the commercial reality of having Inverness half a dozen miles away and drawing all the commerce into it. Examples of this can be found both north and south.
I don't think the push for independence caused the potholes in the road or the modifications of the road signs and examples of both, again can be found either side the border.

I have asked Mr Shafa on more than one occasion, why it is that when he patently dislikes Scotland so much, he still persists in living there. I think we should be told. Maybe, in his eyes, everywhere else is worse.

 

[FishyInverness]

I agree, Dave why do you live in what is possibly one of the most friendly and picturesquely surrounded cities in the UK and then complain about it endlessly on here?

I come form the South of England, I also LIVED in Muir of Ord, which is a lovely wee village, despite the slightly run down appearance of PARTS of the main village (which is all of 100 metres long!) - I can't see how the appearance of Muir of Ord is any different from parts of, for example, Bognor Regis - 5 minutes down the road is Beauly, which is about as beautiful a little Highland town as you could find...that video really means nothing, and has no revelevance to independance...And if you'd like to split hairs, we're hardly inundated with fishfarms or windfarms here in the Schneck!


Oh, also on the issue of the manx pound from earlier - you can't spend them in England, but you can exchange them at any branch of Natwest for English pounds - they aren't a different currency as such, just a different note.

 

[dgadee]

scotland today ..................................
......................................

That's the problem - all the money goes south and the population has to go there, too, in order to get work. If you don't want Scotland as a large retirement village or location for Londoners to bird spot, then I think you seriously have to consider how to revitalise it. Independence seems to me to be one option. If not that, then what else? It's the same problem for the west of England, north of England, Wales, etc.

 

[maby]

Just occurred to me - if there is a period when an independent Scotland is not in the EU, they'll be able to sell new two stroke outboards! The traffic across the border will help the new country's national debt!

 

[dgadee]

Just occurred to me - if there is a period when an independent Scotland is not in the EU, they'll be able to sell new two stroke outboards! The traffic across the border will help the new country's national debt!

The debt may stay with the rump of the UK. The view from the Daily Mail:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rs-independence-Salmond-asked-fair-share.html

 

[awol]

The debt may stay with the rump of the UK. The view from the Daily Mail:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rs-independence-Salmond-asked-fair-share.html

2 month old Daily Mail article? A "yes" vote will be the start of negotiations with the UK establishment. That the UK government informs the world it doesn't intend to renege on its debt is not really a surprise. How much of that debt Scotland takes on will be part of hopefully amicable discussions as will a fair share of the assets. The SNP are quite happy for the rUK to keep the boats presently parked and serviced at Faslane.

 

[JumbleDuck]

The strange but oft quoted "UK and European waters from Brest to Elbe" doesn't include Isle of Man or Eire and presumably will exclude Scotland after independence. Another reason to read the policy.

Indeed. I had to get GJW to write in "the whole of the Irish Sea including Manx waters". Some of the Irish Sea is sufficiently far from land not to count as "coastal waters" in their standard policy.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Oh, also on the issue of the manx pound from earlier - you can't spend them in England, but you can exchange them at any branch of Natwest for English pounds - they aren't a different currency as such, just a different note.

Point of information: unlike Scottish or Norn Ayrish notes, Manx currency is not sterling; it's a completely separate currency pegged 1:1 to sterling. As I recall, Natwest owns the Isle of Man Bank, which I presume is why they'll take the Manx currency.

 

[FishyInverness]

Interesting, I was not fully aware of that, cheers Jumbleduck - an interesting point to note from reading up on that is that the IOM has a Currency Union with the UK, but Call Me Dave and his chums keep categorically stating Scotland can't have one if they take their ball away....

 

[maby]

Interesting, I was not fully aware of that, cheers Jumbleduck - an interesting point to note from reading up on that is that the IOM has a Currency Union with the UK, but Call Me Dave and his chums keep categorically stating Scotland can't have one if they take their ball away....

It all comes down to terminology really, doesn't it? They might call it a "currency union", but I'm prepared to bet that the BoE Monetary Policy committee doesn't make a phone call to anyone on the IoM each month before announcing the new interest rate to see if it suits them. We can't stop an independant Scotland using the pound as its preferred currency, but will a country the size of Scotland want to give up control over interest rates and exchange rates? We certainly should not be allowing Salmond to get his feet under the BoE table on such decisions.